On World AIDS Day In Hartford, Still Fighting The Stigma

HARTFORD — The names arose from clear voices and a few murmurs Monday in a third-floor office on Albany Avenue.

Victor. Cecilia. Vivian Henry. Jose. Iris. Kevin Perry.

For a minute and a half, in the stillness of the small Connections Wellness Center, visitors called out loved ones who are gone after battling HIV or AIDS. Red ribbons with more handwritten names were draped over the windows like curtains.

Monday was World AIDS Day, and activists in Hartford carried on as they have for more than 25 years: Remembering the "warriors," offering services and hope to those still living with the disease, pledging to speak out to policymakers and find ways to reach people who do not yet know they are infected.

Despite medical advancements, AIDS activists said the lingering stigma has been a barrier for prevention efforts and getting people tested. Young gay and bisexual men accounted for 40 percent of new HIV infections in Hartford two years ago, according to AIDS Connecticut, and African Americans and Hispanics are increasingly at risk.

"To this day, there are people walking through that door barely hanging on to life," said Aurelio Lopez, a counselor and prevention worker for the coalition. His brother, a former prison inmate, died from HIV in 1993. "How do you get to those folks not wanting to know?"

About 10,500 people are reported to have HIV/AIDS in Connecticut, although up to 20 percent more might be unaware of their status, the coalition said. Nearly 2,000 Hartford residents are known to be living with AIDS.

"They want to be treated like people, like everybody else," said Melanie Alvarez, AIDS Connecticut's director of treatment and care services. She was talking about those not only fighting the disease, but the stigma. "They want to be hugged, they want to be loved and they want to be appreciated."

Lopez, a 47-year-old father, said he understands the anxiety of getting an HIV test. When Lopez himself got tested last week, awaiting the results was "the longest 18 minutes of my life," he said.

Lopez said he has been in the streets, nightclubs, correctional facilities, schools and on social media to talk prevention. The message can be difficult in Hispanic and black communities, he said, where a religious thread of social conservatism can make people reluctant to discuss a health matter often associated with risky sexual behavior and intravenous drug use.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported nearly 48,000 new HIV diagnoses in the U.S. in 2012. Almost half of the people were identified as black or African American, while 18.5 percent were Hispanic.

"Don't think, 'It cannot be me,'" said Charles Capers, 62, known as the de facto mayor of Connections Wellness Center. The East Hartford grandfather, who abused drugs as a younger man, said he was diagnosed with HIV in the 1980s.